Thursday, June 29, 2017

Passions—and tempers—flare as one star-crossed couple gets a
second chance at love.

King of ClubsAces & Eights, #2

by Sandra Owens

Releasing June 27th 2017
Montlake Romance

In the second novel
in acclaimed author Sandra Owens’s Aces & Eights series, passions—and
tempers—flare as one star-crossed couple gets a second chance at love.

The Book Junkie Reads . . . Review of . . . KING OF CLUBS
(Aces & Eights, #2) . . .Sparks, fire,
ignition. Court can’t outrun his love for one woman. Excepting never to see her
again things change when they are in close quarters once again. This time the
stakes are even higher.

My
first read from Sandra Owens and she has a fan. I love the suspene, drama,
action, intense passion, and the fierce denial they both tried to pull off but
did not succeed with. Court knew that he found an unreplaceable connection to
the beautiful woman that torn his heart apart six years ago. He has no
intention of allowing her to get close to him again. He feels that if he just engage
in lustful acts that he would not get his heart involved.

To
secure his safety, she walked away for Court six years ago. Now, Lauren has no
choice but to encounter Court. Her best friend is marrying his brother. Things
are more than just simple fireworks between the two. The passion, desire, chemistry
and connection between then has just grown stronger.

I must
ride this series to the end. I loved it. I will be going back to Jack of Hearts.

Aces & Eights series:

Jack of
Hearts – Aces & Eights, #1

King of
Clubs – Aces & Eights, #2

Blurb

Covert
FBI agent Court Gentry loves his brothers, his job, and his Harley-Davidson.
Once he loved a girl, too, but when she broke his heart, he put his emotions on
lockdown…until she crosses his path again.

On
vacation six years ago, free-spirited Lauren Montgomery fell hard for Court
Gentry. She returned home happier than ever, only to descend into a spiral of
abuse by her ex-husband, Stephan. When Stephan threatened to kill any man who
touched her, Lauren cut Court from her life—but not from her heart.

When
Lauren and Court reunite after her friend marries his brother, Court guards
himself against the person who made him feel such intense passion and pain.
Except the undeniable spark between them is impossible to contain and heating
up fast. Six years ago, it was love. Now, it’s just lust. Keeping it merely
physical is a foolproof plan…right?

When Stephan is released from prison, Lauren can’t outrun her past anymore, and
Court vows to protect her. But with Lauren in imminent danger, Court must
question his heart and risk his life to save the woman he never stopped loving.

Court
had wanted to let her know he was here, but Madison said if he did, Lauren
would just kick him out. According to Madison, Lauren intended to go straight
to bed. He tilted his head, listening to the sounds coming from her bedroom.
She was moving around, opening and closing drawers. She definitely hadn’t gone
straight to bed. What was she up to?

Suspicious,
he waited. An hour later, the floorboards in the hallway creaked. A
dark-clothed person walked into the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out
two bottles of water, and stuffed them into the backpack she carried, and then
headed for the door.

Lauren. Lauren.
Lauren.
“Going somewhere my little midnight ghost?”

She
yelped, the backpack falling to the floor with a heavy thud.

“Easy,
G.G.” He pushed off the sofa.

“Court?”
She pressed her forehead against the door. “Why are you here?”

“Guarding
you. Going to be kind of hard to do if you’re not here, don’t you think?” He
picked up the backpack. “Where you headed?”

“None
of your business.” She slipped around him, backed up to the kitchen light
switch, and turned it on. “You can leave now.”

“Don’t
think so.” He frowned at the sight of a gun barrel in the partially unzipped
bag. He pulled it out and held up the Glock 26, also known as a Baby Glock,
preferred by women because of its smaller size. “You planning on shooting
someone?”

“Again,
none of your business.”

He
shouldn’t like that fire in those golden brown eyes so much. “I’m making it my
business. Do you even know how to shoot this?” When her gaze shifted away, he
had his answer. Christ, she was clueless. About everything. How to use the
weapon she’d been careless enough to let him find, how to disappear, and she
probably didn’t know how to fight off an attack.

What
to do about that? As he saw it, he had two choices. Either let her go and hope
she somehow managed to safely disappear or make her his project. He wasn’t
stupid enough to tell her that last part since he doubted there was a woman in
the world who’d appreciate being any man’s project.

“Are
you that afraid of him?” he asked even though he was sure of the answer.

“Feeling
like a broken record here because again, none of your business. I’d like you to
leave now.”

She
crossed her arms over her chest, probably to show him she meant business. It
wasn’t working since she’d managed to push up her breasts so that the material
of her T-shirt stretched against them, leaving her nipples outlined.

He’d
had those beautiful breasts in his mouth, had explored every inch of her body,
had known all her sighs of pleasure. He’d once thought she loved him. Until
she’d told him in a phone call it was over, not even having the courtesy to
tell him to his face.

Nor
had she given him a reason. Just, “Don’t call me again or try to see me.” That
had happened only days after she’d told him she loved him. He’d learned the
hard way women couldn’t be trusted, the first lesson on that coming from his
mother. The one time he’d forgotten that lesson had been with Lauren. But never
again.

“What
are you looking at?” She lifted one arm, snapping her fingers. “My eyes are up
here.”

Irritated
with himself and her, he kept his gaze on her breasts to prove… What? That he
was an ass? “So they are,” he said, lifting his eyes to hers. “Here’s the
deal.”

“There
is no deal, Court. You have no say so over my life. I’ll ask you one more time
to leave.”

“Or
you’ll what? Call the cops?”

“Yeah,
that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

He
chuckled, amused that she had no clue she was threatening to call the police on
an FBI agent. “Let’s sit, and I’ll tell you the deal.” Ignoring the little
growl deep in her throat, he settled on the sofa. “Come on, G.G. Just hear me
out.”

“Stop
calling me that.”

“Why?
You used to like it.” She’d been his Gorgeous Girl for six days. It must have
been the sun and beer and salty air that had tricked him into mistaking lust
for love. He had to admit the woman had a lot to do with that, too. All six
years had done to her was turn her from a cute college girl with a love of life
into a beautiful woman afraid of her own shadow. He could appreciate the
physical change in her, but he didn’t like the fear her ex-husband had put in
her eyes.

And
when did she have that husband? Before he met her or after? Or even during? No,
he couldn’t believe that she would have given herself to him so freely, showing
no sign of guilt during their time together if she’d had a husband waiting in
the wings. He wanted answers and he planned to get them.

“Lauren,
please. Sit and hear me out.” Her cat jumped onto the sofa, climbed onto his
lap, and peered up at him with curious blue eyes. “See, even… Hemingway, is
it?” At her nod, he said, “Even Hemingway wants to hear what I have to say.”

Like
a wary crab, she inched sideways to the nearest chair. “You have five minutes.”

Little
did she know. He had as long as he wanted because she wasn’t going anywhere.
She might not like it, but it was for her own good. As an officer of the law,
he couldn’t stand by and watch her get herself hurt. From all the signs she’d
unknowingly given him, she fully expected bad trouble was headed her way.

A best-selling, award winning author, Sandra
Owens lives in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.
Her family and friends often question her sanity, but have ceased being
surprised by what she might get up to next. She’s jumped out of a plane, flown
in an aerobatic plane while the pilot performed death-defying stunts, has flown
Air Combat (two fighter planes dogfighting, pretending to shoot at each other
with laser guns), and rode a Harley motorcycle for years. She regrets
nothing.

A member of Romance Writers of America's Honor Roll, Sandra is a 2013 Golden
Heart® Finalist for her contemporary romance, CRAZY FOR HER. In addition to her
contemporary romantic suspense novels, she writes Regency stories.

I have read one book thus far and the review
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